Method and apparatus for making coiled wire material in rope form



Dec. 9, 1941.

D. E. HENNESSY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COI ELED WIRE MATERIALIN. ROPE FORM Filed Dec. 5, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet l 4,4 4 v 2&4

ATTORNEYS Dec; 9, 1941. HENNESSY 2,265,369

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIRE MATERIAL IN ROPE FORM FiledDec. 5, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l N V E NTO R Q9/1042 ZJhwzssy ATTORNEYSDec. 9, 1941. D. E. HENNESSY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIREMATERIAL IN ROPE FORM 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 5, 1939 Patented Dec.9, 1941 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIRE MATERIAL IN ROPEFORM Daniel E. Hennessy, Leominster, Mass., assignor to Springfield Wire& Tinsel 00., West Springfield, Mass, a corporation of MassachusettsApplication December 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,612

18 Claims.

In the making of air filters, sound absorbing devices, etc., it isdesirable to have the pervious wire product supplied in aself-supporting rope form which will not tangle with itself when woundup. In prior methods of making somewhat similar products it has beensuggested that coiled metal strands be twisted together or, laid side byside to form a rope, but insufficient bonding between the variousstrands is thus created and these strands may come loose from thesurface of the rope with a consequent liability of tangling if the ropeis packed in a container for shipment to the filter manufacturer.

It is one object of the present invention to produce a method and anapparatus in which coiled wire may be formed into a self-supportingcontinuous rope which will be substantially nontangling, without thenecessity of using an external binding wire. A further object is toproduce a method and an apparatus of suflicient flexibility to permitthe size and texture of the rope to be varied in order to suit specialconditions. A further object is to provideimproved mechanism forproducing a hollow continuous tube of filtering material. A furtherobject is to produce an improved method and apparatus by which the ropeproduct may be formed and packed in a suitable container as a continuousoperation. Additional objects will appear from the following descriptionand claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of apparatus by which the presentinvention may be carried out;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a detail, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the apparatusshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail of a modified form of winding mandrel;

Fig. 5 is a detail of the coiled product both in its normal form and inthe condition in which it is wound on the mandrel;

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the manner of winding the rope product;

Fig. 7 is a detail section on line l--'! of Fig. 1' taken on an enlargedscale; 7

Fig. 8 is an end view of the product obtained from the winding mandrelshown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 9 is an end view of the product obtained from the mandrel shown inFig. 4;

Fig. 10 is a section on line lfl-Jfl of Fig. 4;

Fig. 11 is a detail, similar to Fig. 4, showing a further modificationof the winding apparatus for use when a hollow product is to be,obtained;

5 as is indicated on a greatly enlarged scale at |8 in Fig. 5, but aswill be shown later the strand March 13,1863.

Fig. 12 is a section on line |2--|2 of Fig. '11 on a larger scale; and

Fig; 13 is an end view of the product made on the device'of Fig. 11.

The rope-like product is formed by making a helically coiled strand offlat wire and cross winding this wire upon a rotating mandrel under atension sufiicient to keep the coils of the strand opened up, the woundportion of the coil being systematically advanced 'so' that the windingsprogress longitudinally. Due to the fact that the coils are stretchedout and to-the fact that the strand is cross wound, the coils tend tointerlook at the point of intersection of the strand. If the crosswinding is given such a pitch that the strands extend roughly at anangle of 45 (although this may be varied greatly) a ropelike product ofgreat stability will be produced. One specific form of apparatus willnow be described in detail. I V

The initially coiled strand'may be formed in any desired way, and whileit may be formed by drawing a fiatmetal wire over a curling edge.

as described in the patent to Mason 2,121,527 dated June 21, 1938, it ispreferably formed by. winding on a small tapered needle or mandrel;

of either round or polygonal cross-section. In

the form shown, the tapered mandrel I0 is held' stationary in a frame Hand aguide or frame. 12 is mounted to rotate rapidly around it, draw inga flat Wire l3 from a spool l4 .which is permitted to rotate freelyunder a frictional drag; The frame may be rotated by a belt i5 extendingfrom a motor H5 or other source of power. The

mechanical construction of this winding mecha-' nism is standard in theart of making tinsel or gimped material and need not be described indetail. A more complete description will be found in the Montgomery andMason Patent 1,386,350;

August 2, 1921.

The needle 10 is tapered and has a curved heel portion I! so that thewire wound upon it is pushed off inthe form of a continuous helix;Normally the spacing of thehelix is fairly close;

is drawn away from the mandrel by a windup mechanism operating atsuch aspeed as to stretch the coils of the strand as shown at l9. To preventthis windup from drawing the coil "completely off the mandrel, therebypreventing the formation of a helix, the strand may be passed aroundrollsZIl and 2| or the strand may be held against the mandrel by a pador roller as indi cated in the French patent to Martin 57,945,

' 'offthe uniformpmotion type so v slowing {down and dwell at the endsof the stroke;

The windup device shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is carried on a frame 22clamped at 23 to an upa right standard 24f A shaft 25 is rotatable inthe to preserve this timed relation the shaft is 7 wound around th flatmandrel thus formed will v be in contact with the outer run-s ofxthe.belts 29 but will be out of contact with the inner runs,.

and therefore the wound product. will be caused to travel endwise at arate dependent. upon the. speed of the belts.

At their lower ends the belts pass around guides or pulleys 3|, a merecircular groove in the ends of the members 21 being generally suf-'ficient; and at their upper ends passaround pulleys '32. Each. pulley.32. has a worm wheel 33 aflixed to it, both worm wheels. engagingacommon worm 34 on the lower end of a shaft 35 telescoping the shaft 25.The belts. are additionally guided by idler pulleys 36- so thattheywillrun in direct contact with the outer grooves 'in-the'bars 21.

The shaft 25 is driven bya-chain connection .31 from an upright shaft 38having a worm drive 40 from a countershaft 4| which may be driven fromany-desired source of power at a constant" rate. The shaft 35 is drivenbya chain connection 42- from the same shaft 38, the drives of theshafts 25 and 35 being slightly different so that the winding mandrelwill be rotated at a constant rate andthe belts will be fed continuouslyat a relatively slow rate. It will be understood that if both shaftswere rotated at the same speeds no feeding'would 'be accomplished, thedrive ofthe belts being secured only by the differential speed. Thefeed-could also be obtained ,by periodically holding the shaft 35stationary, or byrotating it intermittently," but the] constant drivedescribed above is generally preferably as it gives'a simple way ofregulating the feed. V

Intermediate the guide. roll 2| and the windup is mounted a'traversemechanism best illustrated in 1Fig. 3. This comprises an arm 45 pivotedat '46'to a standard 41 and having at its ends one ormore guide holes 48for the strand. If a plurality of holes are. used they are preferablyjspaced apart suiiiciently to preventthe separate strands coming incontact with. each other, as this would destroy the tightness of theinterlock between the strands where they cross each other. Each guidehole is fed from a separate winding spindle, only one of which,appearsin Fig. 1. The arm 45 is oscillatedperiodically. by a link 49forked at 50 to embrace a shaftf5l and carrying a cam"roll' 52 engaginga cam :53 on the shaft. "This cam is preferably as. to minimize but'a'plaincrank. motion may be substituted with generally satisfactoryresults... The advan of the tray? erse- 'wi th respect to the windingmandrel, so that:

V V the. flat mandrel will have its maximum; drawing,

' effect" hen; the traverse is;,at. the; ends; of :its; This efifect isobtained .WhhJ-llhdfidtf Stroke.

sides of the mandrel are at substantially right angles to the line oftravel of the strand, and

driven by a chain drive 55 from a shaft 55 having worm drive and chainconnections 51 and 58 with the shaft 4|. If the additional refinementvjust referred to is not desired, the shaft 5| may be driven from anyseparate source of power or by a belt drive from shaft 4 I.

The wound strand 60 shown in Figs. 6 and '7 is stretched out asindicated at H] in Fig. 5 and the helix has a substantial pitch asindicated in 'Fig. 6.- This insures that the turns will interlock fullyat their crossing points. Fig. 6 also .shows bythe arrows BI and 62 theeffect of systematically shifting the wound helices longitudinally ofthe mandrel, although this effect has been-greatly exaggerated in thefigure for clearness. It will be plain that by this means successivecross windings will overlap to form a continuous product having greatstability along its length, this being adjustable-by varying the angleof'thehelix. 7

The material is, asbefore stated, wound'under tensionand when-itpasses-over the end of the mandrel-it will contract as shown at'63 inFig. 8-,"forming a compact cylindrical mass in which the wires arethoroughly interlocked-.-

In case'a flatterproduct'is desired the cylin drical rope of Fig. 8*maybe passed between roll- 7 ed rods 12 connected by gearing 13 with acontral shaft 14 driven as by a pulley 15. The rods 12 form a windingsupport and, due to the engagement of their threads with the inside ofthe wound" mass, at once cause the latter to be fed' off, the endofthewinding form and, by

" the sharpness with which the wire is bent coupled with thefrictional'rubbing contact of the screws; cause the edges'jof the. woundmass to lose their tendencyto return to circulari form. While theproduct thus obtained will contract and interlock as shown 'at 64 itdoes not have the same tendency to assume a cylindrical form as thatprepared withth'e' use of belts.

preferable to support the ends of the rods by a spacer engaging reducedsections of the rods. This spacer is supported bya plate 86' attached toa U-shaped bracket 81 on' the head'm. The

plate 86 is preferably made wide enough'so that it will guide the woundmass and prevent it from being dragged around the threaded rods.

The rope fed off the mandrel in either case isrotatingon its axis,and'topr-event kinking it is preferably'received in a rotating.container 80, which may be the one in which the 'rope'is' to be shipped.Thiscontaineris received between guides 8| Qua-turntable 82 which maybedriven fromsha'ft 38=bya beltjdrive 83-suitably proportioned to thedrive 3'!- to cause the rope to coilsmoothly within the container.

adapted to produce-a hollow tubularproduct, shown in end View; at --inFig. 1-3. For this purposefour screws'l'l lare shown, spaced around acircl'e as shown in Fig. 12 but driven-from acommon gear 92 as inthe-form of device shown. 4. To. prevent the product. being; 7

'It is creased around the screws a circular wooden or sheet metal frame94 is secured as by struts 95 to the central plate 96. In this caseinterior tangling of the product is not desired, and to prevent this aroller 91 is carried by an arm 98 pivoted at 99 to any suitable place onthe machine, and is pressed by a spring I against the wound product at apoint below the lowermost point of reciprocation of the traverse 45.

The condensation thus resulting will satisfy the interlocking tendencyof the strands.

The described method is adaptable to widely differing conditions.Besides the obvious control by changing the size of the wire the size ofthe helical coils can be changed by using needles of different sizes,and by varying the tension under which the wire is wound on the needle.The size of these coils exerts a marked efiect upon the texture of theultimate product. This texture can also be varied by the tension underwhich the helical strand is wound and the pitch given to the helix.

The product formed in accordance with the method described will preserveits helical structure andwill not pack undesirably on continued use eventhough it is made of relatively soft copper strand. This is dueapparently to the interlocking of the coils by crossing rather than bylaying them side by side. At the same time the product will preserve itsrope-like form during shipment.

I claim:

1. A method of making air filteringor sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding thestrand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up,displacing at least some of the windings systematically in alongitudinal direction with .respect to preceding underlying windings,and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contractinto continuous rope form.

2. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding thestrand upona form of flattened cross-section under a tension sufficientto keep its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windingsystematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to precedingunderlying windings, relative to the form, ironing the inside edges ofthe wound product, and releasing the wound product progressively topermit it to contract into flattened, continuous rope form.

3. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises winding a flat wire into a strand having closely spacedhelical coils, winding the strand upon itself in successively reversedlong pitched helices, systematically displacing at least some of thewindings in a longitudinal direction with respect to precedingunderlying windings, maintaining the strand during winding under atension sufficient to hold its normally closely spaced coils opened up,and releasing the wound product progressive- 1y to permit it to contractinto continuous rope form.

4. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, and cross-windingthe strand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up,displacing at least some of the windings systematically in alongitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings.

5'. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a flat wire into. a helical strand, cross-winding thestrand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up,displacing at least some of the windings systematically in alongitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings,condensing the wound material, and releasing the wound productprogressively to permit itto contract into continuous rope form.

6. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding thestrand under a tension suflicient to maintain its coils opened up,displacing at least some of the windings systematically in alongitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings,condensing the wound material, and releasing the wound productprogressively to permit it to contract into continuous rope form, thediameter at which the product is wound being sufliciently great toprevent the center of the wound product from closing up when released.

7. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material whichcomprises forming a fiat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding thestrand under a tension sufficient to maintain its coils opened up,displacing at least some of the windings systematically in alongitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings,and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contractinto continuous rope form, the diameter at which the product is woundbeing sufficiently great to prevent the center of the wound product fromclosing up when released.

8. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material incontinuous rope form which comprises means for forming a continuoushelix of flat wire, means for cross-winding the helix under tensionsufiicient to hold its coils opened up, and means to feed the woundmaterial in a longitudinal direction during the winding operation. v

9. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material inrope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of fiatwire, a rotating winding form having one free end, means for rotatingthe form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficientto hold its coils opened up, and means to feed the wound material in alongitudinal direction along and off from the winding form during thewinding operation.

10. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material inrope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flatwire, a Winding form having one free end, means for rotating the form atsuch a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficient to hold itscoils opened up, a guide for the helix located between the forming meansand the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally with respect to thelatter, and means for feeding the wound material progressively in a.direction towards and off from the free end of the form.

11. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material inrope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of fiatwire, a rotating winding form having one free end, means for rotatingthe form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficientto hold its coils opened up, a guide for the helix located between theforming means and the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally with.respect. to .the' latter, a 1 pair of .oppositely positioned; belts onthe winding formeach having onerun in position to be engaged by thewound material,- and means for driving'the belts in a direction to feedthe material towards and offfifrom the free end. of the form.

. 12." A machine for making air filteringor sound absorbingmaterial inrope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flatWire, a rotatingwinding form having one free end, means for'rotating theform at such a rateias to Wind the helix under a tension sufiicient tohold its coils. opened up, 'a guide for the helix located between theforming means and the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally withrespect to the latter, a pair of oppositely positioned belts on thewinding form each having one run inposition to be engaged by the woundmaterial, and means for driving the belts in a direction to feed thematerial towards and off from the free .end of'theform, said last-named'means comprising pulleys carrying the belts,

worm gears fixed to: the pulleys, a common worm engaging the gears, andmeans for controlling the rotation of the worm with respect to thewinding frame. a I

13. A machinefo-r making airfiltering or sound absorbing material infiat rope form which comprises means for forming a-continuous helicalstrand of flat wire, a, flat,rotating winding frame having a free end,means for rotating the frame at such a rate as to wind the strand undera tension. sufilcient to holdits coils opened 'up, a traverse mechanismfor causing the strand to travel back and forth on the winding frame,and means for imparting a relative sliding movement to the. wound strandand'the winding frame at diametrically opposite v points to displace thewound mass systematically towardsthe free end of the :frame and to ironthe inner surface of the a wound mass whereby upon contraction it willassume a flattened form.

14. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material inflat rope form which vcomprisesmeans for forming a continuous helical atsuch a rate as to wind thestrand under a I tensionsufiicient to hold its'coils opened up; a traverse mechanism for causing the strand to travelback and forth on the winding frame; and

r a pair of rotatable screw threaded rods carried by the winding frameand supporting the flatwound mass at diametrically opposite points toimpart a relative sliding movement to the Wound helix and the. winding..frame todisplace the wound 7 mass systematically towards the free endof the frame and to iron the inner surface of the wound masswherebyupon' contraction .it will: assume a flattened form. 1

15. A machine for=makingfair. filtering or sound absorbing -material inrope formv which comprises means for forming a'continuous helix of flatWire, a rotating winding form having one free. end, means for rotatingthe form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficientto hold its'coils opened up,means to trae verse the material being woundto cause the turns to crosseach other at a substantial angle, means tofeed the wound material in a longitudinal direction alongand off fromthe winding form during the winding operation, a container for receivingthe product delivered-from the mandrel, and means for rotating thecontainer.-

16.-A machine for making air filtering;v or sound .absorbingmaterial inrope form which comprises: means. for. forming a' continuous helixof-flat wire, a rotating winding form-having one free end, means forrotating the form atisuch a rate as to wind the helix under, a. tensionsufli-.

cient to holdits coilsopened up, means forcondensing the wound materialon the winding form, and means to feed the wound material in alongitudinal direction along and off fromthe winding form during thewinding operation.

17. A machine for making air filtering sound absorbing material in ropeform which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flat wire,a rotating winding form having'one free end, means for rotatingthe'form'at such a rate as towind the helix under a tension suflicientto hold its coils opened up, means for condensing.

of fiat wire, a rotating winding form havingone 7 free end, means forrotating the form at such a. rate as .topwind the'helix undera tensionsufiie cient to hold itscoils opened up, and means to feedathe' woundmaterial in a longitudinal direction along. and off from" the windingformduring the winding operation, the diameter of the winding form beingsufificiently great to prevent the center of the wound product fromclosing up when released. 1

' DANIEL E. HENNESSY.

